Kellen Moore on Week 3 loss to Seahawks | New Orleans Saints

Kellen Moore on Week 3 loss to Seahawks | New Orleans Saints

All right. Uh the only two roster moves we had today was uh we signed S back to practice squad and then Kevin Austin got waved from the 53. So probably have a couple other little moves just we juggle a couple of those things here next couple days. So um yeah, open up for questions. Yeah, I think it it was just a good example of uh you know impact plays happen in any any of the four quarters and uh we had too many of them that negatively impact us early in this game put us in behind. Um it wasn’t all bad at the beginning of the game. I thought our defense, you know, for example, you know, offense, I felt like, you know, first drive, you’re doing well. Got a got a first down in there, we’re moving it. And then, you know, third down missed stop, fourth down missed stop. And then defensively, I thought we responded pretty well. We did have the miss uh sack opportunity with the scramble. Uh Sam made a great play and then we responded really well. Settled in, you know, forced him a field goal. We make a you know, really really poor decision in a play and then uh obviously a couple of special teams plays early and uh you know, quickly quickly uh you know, went negative for us. Why do you think you guys like every every Yep. That’s a that’s a big thing that uh we have to find a way to get better at. Um something that we got to talk about and navigate. Um obviously it’s not not where it needs to be. Um there’s little moments that are good. There’s just not the consistency early games and so that’s shown up too many times. You do you script like the first 15 or you more like a like go by? Yeah, we have we have an openers openers early in the game and uh you know obviously the situations dictate which ones you call based off that. Um but um you know you spend a lot of time early in games as far as formulating that and in all three phases. What have you seen just since the game from your veteran leadership on the team and how they’ve kind of responded? Yeah, I think we got the right guys and and that’s the beauty of this thing is um yeah, we’re not where we want to be. Uh we’re not not in the situation we anticipated. We’re 0 and three. We’ve missed three opportunities uh so far this year, but I think our guys are work working the right way. They understand uh you know it’s all about how you respond to these situations. There’s u too many examples in our league of people uh you know having setbacks like this and being able to respond the right way. And so we got to be one of those teams that does it uh like those teams. We we got to replicate that. We got to get better with some urgency. We got to get better quickly. But uh you know I think our guys will respond the right way and we got to get it done though. Do you want to mention yesterday desire to be more vocal just as a leader? Do you feel like you have the vocal side of the leadership that you need on this roster right now or is that something that you’re still building? Well, I think leadership is always growing. I think it’s always growing and evolving and I think we got a lot of leaders on this team. We got a lot of good examples, guys who’ve been here for a number of years, guys who just showed up. Um, you know, we got to find our stride. We got we got to play better football and when you play better football, it leads into all the other good stuff that we’re really close to. What have you guys seen in the past quarterbacks like just finding so many targets like Yeah, I think just you know when when you’re playing mixed down football on first and second down and um you know we’re not getting the rush that we we need in those pass action game situations and they’re creating layered concepts and uh you we’re just we’re giving up too many of those explosive chunks in those situations because there’s too much other good within that. But those obviously those flip the field, those flip drives, they score quickly at times and so uh we got to do a better job of cleaning that up. When you say you’re getting close to is is it because the young players, is it a mental thing? Is it physical that is stopping them from reaching the goal and just being close? Yeah, I think it’s a combination of everything. Obviously, uh yeah, we do have some young players, but that’s no excuse. Those guys, you know, we brought them in to play. Uh that’s the expectation. And so, um we have to play cleaner football. We have to execute at a much higher level. We got to continue to evolve from a schematic standpoint or put oursel in the best possible situation and so uh you know there there’s got to be urgency with this. We we got to get it corrected. I think we do have the right people. We’ll get there and u you know it’ll be it’ll be exciting to see our guys finally get there. What’s the process for just like the the snap penalties and getting those going? Yeah. Yeah. Um, obviously a big time discussion and obviously uh, you know, we’ve put a lot of time and investment on it from getting referees here during training camp the last couple weeks in practice. Uh, it has to we have to find the solution to how it translates going in the games. Obviously that was a hostile environment. It’s a loud environment, but that’s what we expected. Um, you know, and and we put oursel in too many situations where, you know, there’s there’s good and then the momentum stops because of these silly penalties and um, you know, and really in all three phases, all three phases had a piece of it. Were you guys able to like replicate the the crowd noise up there on Friday? Like do you have the equipment out there? Yeah, we had the equipment. Yep. We had the same same environment we had all week here. Are they throwing a lot of flags or not? A couple here and there. I think I think that’s the that’s the frustrating part is the procedural stuff. I feel like the last two weeks in practice has been much better. uh we’ve had very few of them and so uh for them to come back up in the game you know obviously we got to find where where that can uh we can help that translation because we’re we’re taking steps in the non-competitive environment now we got to you know translate to the competitive. Is there like a thought to maybe scaling back on pre-tap motion to make maybe maybe it limits your offense but maybe it makes it cleaner or do you say the standard’s the standard that’s just not a possibility? combination of all that, I think we we have to be very honest in our evaluation each week and put oursel in the best position because uh you know if we got to clean it up however that means uh you know play simpler football uh you know if that’s what it requires you got to focus in on you know the little things and so uh we definitely need to take some steps we need to evaluate it and that’s what this week will be all about. What was the honest evaluation coming out of this game for something like that? Like are you considering doing things like that scaling back a little bit? Yeah, we just got to find a way to execute at a higher level. And part of that is pre- snap, I think. You know, you talk about executing as post snap, but pre- snap, we got too many little things and uh you know, maybe we just got to clean it up and put ourselves in situation because if we execute, we’re doing just fine, but we’re not executing a high enough level pre- snap and post snap. You’re saying you would rather keep it as it is and continue to watch the standard grow to meet what it is that you’re looking for rather than start to take things out. No, I think we just got to evaluate it from both sides of that that spectrum. I think uh you know we got to see how this week transpires as far as the game plan what we need. Um again we got to keep it tight as as tight as we can so we can go out and execute really well. When you do scale back is that put more on the quarterback though like maybe even getting those easy reach snap and the tails and we’ll we’ll we’ll just we’ll have to see this thing. We’ll have to see how this thing progresses. I think uh you know I I think uh we can’t lose the good that’s going on. I think that like for example tempo offense, there’s been a lot of positives associated with this. The one little bit that you know seems to nag us a little bit is some of these pre- snap penalties associated with it. And so uh we got to play better in it uh because there’s too much good going on, but we also have to evaluate and you know we can’t can’t keep having these uh pre- snap issues. Defend. What did you see on the on the block punt and the punt return? Yeah, the block punt I think u you know really we just got to execute a higher level. we got to communicate um say simply you know we’re not all on the same page and so that’s when you’re not on the same page that’s when a free runner shows up and so um you know felt like you know we we have certainly a lot of control on that the punt return you know we have a couple shots down down there we don’t get it and then we lose leverage and uh you know they made a great play they got ahead of the blocks and uh you know got a big play out of it. Yeah, that that punt block it. Was that specifically, you don’t have to say who, but was that specifically some sort of an assignment error because it obviously seemed like you had enough guys? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we were fine numbers wise. Um, it was simply, you know, not being on the same page and uh there it really was a combination of people. It wasn’t just one person. There’s not one person that blatantly, you know, doesn’t block a guy. We got we got a number of people that just have to be coordinated and understand the responsibilities and the calls and um, you know, everyone’s a part of that one. Um Spencer mentioned after the game yesterday about the need to sort of work or desire at least to work on more scramble drill situations in practice. What’s your evaluation of the scramble drill so far this season and and how you’ve executed? Definitely one of our notes on offense. Um we did not you know plays are designed to go on time and at times a lot of times you know in this league they get become off schedule and we just we’re not doing a good enough job. You know Jax was a great example. Jack did a phenomenal job. He got to the back corner in a scramble drill, found the found the voided zone and and catches a touchdown as a result of it. And there’s too many other times where we’re not mirroring the quarterback, getting running back to the quarterback to find oursel opportunities where we can at least, you know, steal yards. I think, you know, so many of the top offense in our league. The scramble drill is a certainly big component. We’re going to play a team this week that uh does it better than anyone in the league. And so they they have the ability to play on schedule, but then off schedule, you know, Josh’s as good as anyone in this league. Is that like a I’ll I’ll ask it the the the stupid way. Is that is that a reps thing? Is that a rules thing? Like how do you go about working that and trying to recreate that environment and practice? Yeah, there’s there’s definitely drills and you know there’s guidelines there’s guidelines associated with the rules of h how to do the scramble drill and then from there it it’s a it’s a matter of executing that portion. We always say there’s the two parts to every pass play. There’s the original intent and then there’s the scramble phase. and the scramble phase shows up for every single team in this league. And so, uh, you know, the play’s still alive. There’s still big play opportunities. Uh, you know, their first their first explosive play is a scramble. You know, we have a sack opportunity, they turn to scramble. You know, their receiver does an excellent job of run working away and mirroring the quarterback. And so, uh, you know, those things are things that we need to grow in. Pass defense. How do you feel out like play action? How do you feel out? Yeah. Yeah. I think that goes down back to that mix mix down situation. Obviously, um, you know, there’s been a few play action chunks early. Um, again, we just got to do a better job there. I know you said yesterday, paraphrasing that after a loss like that, the whole kind of team is tested and the resolve that you have to have from your perspective, do you call on your dad who was a coach or somebody who may have been there just to make sure you don’t like change or waiver in any way? I think we just we just got to communicate really closely as a as a staff, as an organization, you know, uh, continue to communicate about this. We got to have the same message and uh really really link in together as far as being very specific and and intentional on what we need to address, what we need to keep encouraging u you know because again any game you can come out of it um and see positives and see negatives and so we got to acknowledge both sides of the spectrum. Uh we got to keep this thing moving. We’re 0 for three. We got opportunities ahead of oursel. We need to focus on that. Uh but correct the things that we need to correct and get this thing moving. Was your was you would you say I mean from the time you left the stadium till the time you went to bed, fly home, whatever. Was it just was it any different for you than it usually is? You do anything different, think about anything differently or you just do everything the same all the time? I mean, you have a very similar process. It’s a much longer flight obviously coming back from Seattle. And so, um, you know, you spend a little bit more time just reflecting on, okay, moving forward, what what’s our next steps? And so, uh, you know, really focusing on, okay, how do we address the certain, uh, situation we’re in and then also certainly, you know, we’re moving forward. We’re going to play a really good football team on Sunday in Buffalo. And so, uh, how we respond is going to be really, really impactful. But again, there’s too many examples of teams that have gone through these challenging games like this. Uh, and they’re sometimes really good, uh, momentum shifters. you know, they you can you can really if your team responds the right way, this can be a good little pivot for our team to get better and and draw closer to each other and kind of, you know, take all the other stuff out of it and just get better. To that point, what gives you the confidence that this group can respond and execute on high level, of course, with so much season ahead. Yeah, I thought I thought a couple examples. Uh, our guys kept fighting the whole second half. Um, you know, there’s a lot of examples of you can let down and, you know, play whatever. I thought our play style, you know, Deario, I think was a incredible example of the way he was playing all the way through the end of the game. Uh, in all three phases, I thought we kept competing, you know, and so, uh, we’re competing. The locker room, I felt felt after the game, the guys knew knew we missed an opportunity. We didn’t play very well. I think everyone will acknowledge that, but I thought the, uh, the attention to, uh, and desire to improve and get better was right there. And you can feel it in the so far, you know, today in in the wait room and in the team meeting room. And so, uh, you know, our guys are going to respond. How do you like just as you’re evaluating it, like your kicker’s so automatic all training camp, but then you get in the season and it’s it’s shaky every game like it, how do you weigh those two like very different things? Yeah. Yeah. Obviously, you know, we just missed some opportunities so far and so, uh, you know, just like any phase of our team, you know, we got to get better in every phase. I don’t, you know, I think certainly specialists will say the same thing. They’re just like everyone else on our team. And so, uh, we just got to get simply got to get better. Just be thorough. I know that the game was determined kind of out of hand when Tyler came in. Spencer is quarterback, correct? Yes. Any reason that y’all aren’t going to Buffalo early? I’ve already seen the schedule. Uh, yeah, just it’s one time zone apart. And so, plus the, you know, we had the two time zone travel last week and then one time zone this week. We, we didn’t want to be all over the place. So, uh, this week we’ll create a little bit of continuity and we’ll head up Saturday. Health healthwise did y’all kind of come out okay? Yeah, nothing to note that should impact our game this week. So, yeah. U obviously that’s that’s good based off the first couple weeks. We’ve had a couple of these show up on Monday and so uh we should be, you know, heading in the right direction there. Was Tali Poga pretty clearly not going to be close or did did he get closer than expected? Yeah, it was just a day-to-day thing. you know, obviously, uh, you know, we we let the whole week play itself out all the way through Sunday and so, uh, you know, it just didn’t happen for us, unfortunately. And so, we’ll just, you know, again, take the same process this week. We’ll see how he progresses and, uh, we’ll go from there. You feel like Chase Young is maybe where you would like him to be at this point and with the chance to potentially Yeah, hopefully. I think, you know, sometimes those those are tricky injuries, uh, you know, just when, you know, you’re dealing with the calf and so, you know, sometimes you got to see how this thing progresses and so, uh, he’s doing everything he can. I know, you know, his desires to be out there as soon as humanly possible. Uh, but you got to understand the medical aspect of this thing is real and you got to u, you know, do what’s right for him from a, you know, not just this week, but from a season long perspective. Is it is it hard like three games in some stuff isn’t going right? Like to know what’s just a small sample or like what’s the trend? Like is that something that you have to kind of like evaluate, make sure you’re not overreacting to something or like not overreacting over there? Yeah, I think uh, you know, we’re approaching that point. you know, usually usually the four game mark usually gives you a little bit of a telling uh telling mark as far as you know, where you’re at. And um seasons are long. You get you’re going to have to make adjustments. You’re going to play a lot of different styles and so uh you know, we got to focus on just playing playing cleaner football, playing better football, putting oursel in more favorable situations and uh we’ll see how that plays out. You got a chance to look at a little more. How do you feel about Quincy Riley and him taking advantage of the opportunity that you got? Yeah, Quint Quincy’s a really good player. Obviously, we think highly of him. Uh it was awesome to see him out there. I thought the cool thing was, you know, certainly we’ve we’ve seen the the uh coverage standpoint of his skill set throughout training camp and through preseason. Uh for him to, you know, fit that run really well and end up creating a fumble. That was a really good play for him. I thought it was an awesome example of uh his growth. And so uh we’ll just see how this thing progresses. When you talk about how um really tough games can can sometimes help teams coales a little better. Um, obviously there’s a lot of examples around the league, but do you have any specifically that you think about in your career as a assistant coach or a quarterback even that you’re touching on to get that across? You know, I think we kind of went through as a team. Everyone’s been through these. You know, if you if you played football long enough, you’ve you’ve dealt with a game like what we dealt with on Sunday. Uh, you know, last year we we lost to Tampa in in a really challenging situation. We got to two and two in Philly and u you know it was a game similar as far as they just got out in front really really quickly and so uh you know we we can all lean on a bunch of different examples. Um you know certainly that one and Dallas we had a couple we lost to Detroit or excuse me Denver in 21 really bad. Uh they just got out in front of us and we had we we couldn’t catch up. And so uh you know they’re they’re great opportunities for us to pivot, re-evaluate, lock in together and get really really uh you know improved. Good. All right. Thanks, guys.

Watch New Orleans Saints head coach Kellen Moore speak with the media from the Ochsner Sports Performance Center on Monday, September 22, 2025 the day after the Saints’ Week 3 game against the Seattle Seahawks and ahead of Week 4 against the Buffalo Bills.
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